I support Türkiye’s ambitions to become a member of the European Union. Such a statement made today the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

“At the same time, we need to remember that what we agreed in Madrid was a specific list of conditions that Sweden has to meet to be a full member of the Alliance. And Sweden has met these conditions and that’s about removing restrictions on arms exports. That has happened. Then it’s about strengthening the cooperation between Türkiye and Sweden on fighting terrorism. That’s taking place. And Sweden has also amended its constitution and strengthened the counterterrorism laws and Sweden is following up to address legitimate security concerns by Türkiye.

And it is important that we stand together in the fight against terrorism. But at the same time, it"s also important that we address the legitimate security concerns of all Allies that want to see Sweden as a member of the Alliance as soon as possible, because this will strengthen NATO and it will strengthen our ability to defend and protect not least the Baltic region. If you just look at the map to have Sweden as a full member, in addition to Finland, really changes the geography, the NATO presence in this region.

So we are working hard to get a Sweden as a member as soon as possible. I met with President Erdogan a few weeks ago, we had constructive and good talks. We agreed at that meeting to convene the Permanent [Joint] Mechanism, the mechanism that was established by Sweden, Finland, NATO and Türkiye. They met a few days ago in Brussels, also they were able to make some progress. And then I’m looking forward to meeting President Erdogan and Prime Minister Kristersson later on today. And it"s still possible to have a positive decision on Swedish membership here in Vilnius. We don’t have any certainty. We don’t have any guarantees. But of course, now we have the momentum of the Summit with the Leaders here and we will use that momentum to ensure as much progress as possible”, - said Jens Stoltenberg.